Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7
I know this verse is used constantly in reference to how often we should pray, but look at the verse again. I think it’s fascinating, because it clearly talks about intercession and the effect of intercession.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
What God Wants... More from Moz.
John 6:51-66
What on Earth is going on here? If something like this happened today, we would call what Jesus did a mistake! Feeding people information before they’re ready for it, or any action that loses almost all of your followers at the same time would probably be considered a mistake by anyone’s standards. But of course, Jesus never made mistakes.
What on Earth is going on here? If something like this happened today, we would call what Jesus did a mistake! Feeding people information before they’re ready for it, or any action that loses almost all of your followers at the same time would probably be considered a mistake by anyone’s standards. But of course, Jesus never made mistakes.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Things I'm Learning about God in Mozambique
A Taste of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
God’s been teaching me a lot about the Holy Spirit and about waiting. He’s also been teaching me a lot about how He works in people. But before we get too deep into that, I wanted to go over the baptism of the Holy Spirit first. In Luke 24:48 and Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his disciples to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because it brings power. Jesus never mentioned anything about tongues. And the disciples knew exactly what He was talking about because they had the opportunity to go out with that power before! Healing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing lepers, and raising the dead (Mt 10:10). But that’s not everything the baptism brought – Acts 2 shows the baptism of the Holy Spirit brought with it great boldness to preach, an ability to praise God in another way, and authority and power for preaching. Even the tongues in the outpouring at Pentecost was different than what we consider a baptism in the Holy Spirit – they received actual languages whereas we usually receive a prayer language. Don’t get me wrong – tongues is important but there’s so much more! We’ve settled into a form of the baptism while denying the true power (2 Tim 3:5). A holy and pure life, a change in character to have in full the fruits of the Spirit, power to evangelize and demonstrate God’s love, the ability to be guided into all truth – all of these are stated in the Bible as results of having the Holy Spirit. Just because you don’t see that radical transformation yet in your own life or the lives around you doesn’t mean that’s not what God has for us! Even if you’ve been baptized in the Spirit once, unless you’re dead, God’s got more out there for you. You can never get to the place where God thinks you’ve had enough transformation or where you’ve “used up” all God will give you. See Acts 4:31 for a time the apostles were again filled with the spirit.
OK, on to what I wanted to talk about… The disciples, when Jesus called them in Matthew 10, received a taste of what Jesus was calling them to but they didn’t step into it until years later. Reinhardt Bonkke, Smith Wigglesworth, Randy Clark, Rolland and Heidi Baker… All of them had the same kind of thing happen. The Bakers saw tremendous fruit from their early evangelism, but worked 20 years with little to nothing before stepping into the truly awesome fruit they have now. Randy Clark was used in signs and wonders a bit before being kicked out of his denomination and working 7 years at a donut shop, and it wasn’t until many years later that Toronto broke out.
This has been really important to me, because I’ve seen so many of the people who I’ve seen that used to be on fire for God kind of peter out and go back to what they were doing before God started rocking their worlds. I never really understood why God would let their ministry slow down enough for them to turn away from it, but I think I know a little more now. It’s God’s grace and love that enables the first step into the things of God. He shows us our destiny and purpose, then lets us decide whether we want it or not! I think it’s a lot like initial Christianity – God first shows us His love, and lets us decide whether or not to accept that love. He so wants us to attain that transformation via the Holy Spirit, so he gives us a taste to get us hungry enough and desperate enough to reach out for it. The same kind of desperation that had the disciples meet in prayer for 10 days straight! Smith Wigglesworth had a good ministry before his baptism in the Holy Spirit, but he was so hungry he prayed and fasted for 10 days – afterwards, his ministry grew exponentially! God wants to see if we really want His way or just want the power to do our way.
So many of my friends have experienced the same miracles and depth of God that I have, but after that season was over many of them went back to their old lives, changed a bit but certainly not living God’s destiny for them. It breaks my heart, but I can’t imagine how God feels. It seems like most of our Christian walks are completely spent on God showing us His love and asking us for a part of our life, then showing us more and asking for another part of our life. But that’s never been anyone’s destiny or purpose. If you really want to live your destiny, do the only thing God ever really asks of you and give Him your entire life right now instead of waiting till He asks for it! And wait on God, because that was His command to the disciples to experience a baptism of the Spirit and because you know His promises are true.
In my own life, I’m just realizing this. I wondered for a long time why God gave me such grace and power for a short time and everything after that has been so hard. There are so many reasons, but I probably only know a few: I took God’s power so much for granted and I didn’t know what a gift it was before, I didn’t see the importance of a life of purity, I wasn’t ready for such power… But this last year has been a time where I’ve come to realize that I have nothing without God and that I’ll never be satisfied with anything else. Every day I get more hungry and more desperate for God to just take this fleshly, sinning vessel of mine and transform it no matter what I have to go through. And every time I see a hungry or lost person, I beg for the ability to show them true life and not just tell them words they’ve heard again and again!
I hope these words stir something deep within your heart. For some of you, you probably forgot the plans God had for you – I pray God would reawaken those desires for a greater purpose. For some of you, you probably never knew God’s purpose for you but dared to dream it was true. For most of you, you probably feel like you’re in a dry place - God’s used you in the past and you’ve so wanted to go back to that time. I’ve got news for you – God’s got something far greater in store if you will seek Him, and I pray for a hunger that groans within you to be transformed into the image of Jesus! Whether we’ll ever get there before eternity is a theological topic – that we can go so much higher and so much closer is fact! God Bless,
- Jon
God’s been teaching me a lot about the Holy Spirit and about waiting. He’s also been teaching me a lot about how He works in people. But before we get too deep into that, I wanted to go over the baptism of the Holy Spirit first. In Luke 24:48 and Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his disciples to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because it brings power. Jesus never mentioned anything about tongues. And the disciples knew exactly what He was talking about because they had the opportunity to go out with that power before! Healing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing lepers, and raising the dead (Mt 10:10). But that’s not everything the baptism brought – Acts 2 shows the baptism of the Holy Spirit brought with it great boldness to preach, an ability to praise God in another way, and authority and power for preaching. Even the tongues in the outpouring at Pentecost was different than what we consider a baptism in the Holy Spirit – they received actual languages whereas we usually receive a prayer language. Don’t get me wrong – tongues is important but there’s so much more! We’ve settled into a form of the baptism while denying the true power (2 Tim 3:5). A holy and pure life, a change in character to have in full the fruits of the Spirit, power to evangelize and demonstrate God’s love, the ability to be guided into all truth – all of these are stated in the Bible as results of having the Holy Spirit. Just because you don’t see that radical transformation yet in your own life or the lives around you doesn’t mean that’s not what God has for us! Even if you’ve been baptized in the Spirit once, unless you’re dead, God’s got more out there for you. You can never get to the place where God thinks you’ve had enough transformation or where you’ve “used up” all God will give you. See Acts 4:31 for a time the apostles were again filled with the spirit.
OK, on to what I wanted to talk about… The disciples, when Jesus called them in Matthew 10, received a taste of what Jesus was calling them to but they didn’t step into it until years later. Reinhardt Bonkke, Smith Wigglesworth, Randy Clark, Rolland and Heidi Baker… All of them had the same kind of thing happen. The Bakers saw tremendous fruit from their early evangelism, but worked 20 years with little to nothing before stepping into the truly awesome fruit they have now. Randy Clark was used in signs and wonders a bit before being kicked out of his denomination and working 7 years at a donut shop, and it wasn’t until many years later that Toronto broke out.
This has been really important to me, because I’ve seen so many of the people who I’ve seen that used to be on fire for God kind of peter out and go back to what they were doing before God started rocking their worlds. I never really understood why God would let their ministry slow down enough for them to turn away from it, but I think I know a little more now. It’s God’s grace and love that enables the first step into the things of God. He shows us our destiny and purpose, then lets us decide whether we want it or not! I think it’s a lot like initial Christianity – God first shows us His love, and lets us decide whether or not to accept that love. He so wants us to attain that transformation via the Holy Spirit, so he gives us a taste to get us hungry enough and desperate enough to reach out for it. The same kind of desperation that had the disciples meet in prayer for 10 days straight! Smith Wigglesworth had a good ministry before his baptism in the Holy Spirit, but he was so hungry he prayed and fasted for 10 days – afterwards, his ministry grew exponentially! God wants to see if we really want His way or just want the power to do our way.
So many of my friends have experienced the same miracles and depth of God that I have, but after that season was over many of them went back to their old lives, changed a bit but certainly not living God’s destiny for them. It breaks my heart, but I can’t imagine how God feels. It seems like most of our Christian walks are completely spent on God showing us His love and asking us for a part of our life, then showing us more and asking for another part of our life. But that’s never been anyone’s destiny or purpose. If you really want to live your destiny, do the only thing God ever really asks of you and give Him your entire life right now instead of waiting till He asks for it! And wait on God, because that was His command to the disciples to experience a baptism of the Spirit and because you know His promises are true.
In my own life, I’m just realizing this. I wondered for a long time why God gave me such grace and power for a short time and everything after that has been so hard. There are so many reasons, but I probably only know a few: I took God’s power so much for granted and I didn’t know what a gift it was before, I didn’t see the importance of a life of purity, I wasn’t ready for such power… But this last year has been a time where I’ve come to realize that I have nothing without God and that I’ll never be satisfied with anything else. Every day I get more hungry and more desperate for God to just take this fleshly, sinning vessel of mine and transform it no matter what I have to go through. And every time I see a hungry or lost person, I beg for the ability to show them true life and not just tell them words they’ve heard again and again!
I hope these words stir something deep within your heart. For some of you, you probably forgot the plans God had for you – I pray God would reawaken those desires for a greater purpose. For some of you, you probably never knew God’s purpose for you but dared to dream it was true. For most of you, you probably feel like you’re in a dry place - God’s used you in the past and you’ve so wanted to go back to that time. I’ve got news for you – God’s got something far greater in store if you will seek Him, and I pray for a hunger that groans within you to be transformed into the image of Jesus! Whether we’ll ever get there before eternity is a theological topic – that we can go so much higher and so much closer is fact! God Bless,
- Jon
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
January 22nd Mozambique Update
Our time here so far has been amazing... God has really been drawing us closer to Him and to each other at the same time we're serving Him. Talking to the kids has especially been a real blessing. I realized that some of the 14 and 15 year olds know God far better than any other Christians I know... They may not know as much about God as we do, but they know God like Jesus knew God - as the father. They know their Dad will take care of them and aren't afraid to live like it, which is so refreshing to see and learn from. They don't worry or ever talk about what they need because they know God's looking out for them! Of course, there's the other kids who aren't ashamed to beg for money, but it's the godly ones who have made an impact on me.
The kids at the Iris base aren't the malnourished kids you see in the advertisements for adopt a child programs... Almost all of them looked like that at some point, but not any more. The meal portions are huge and many of the kids have developed a healthy stomach. A lot of the kids at Zimpeto where we were staying actually spoke English, which helped a lot. However, later this week we will be heading to Machava, where all the missionaries are Brazilian and no one speaks English. That should help us with learning Portuguese, which will be helpful for the rest of the trip!
The spiritual climate in Mozambique is full of religions and superstitions. There are witchdoctors all over the place, and people pay them to either curse others or protect themselves. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it definitely has power behind it. In the States, it's trusting in money instead of God that trips up many Christians - here, it's trusting in the witchdoctor's protection instead of God that is a stumbling block. Cutting off the yarn and button "protection" bands is almost as great a celebration as leading someone to Christ! That isn't the only form of spiritual bondage in Mozambique though...
The Zion Christian Church is a fairly large church here and in South Africa. Regardless of their name, they don't really believe in Jesus or the Bible. When children are born, they ask the spirits of dead people to come and guide the babies... We went to one village (where we actually got to take pictures) and there was a 2 year old boy who wouldn't stop yelling and running around. The mother said he was like that constantly, day and night, but had been fine before the father insisted on taking him to the Zionist ceremony. It was pretty eye-opening to see the effect of spirits on people, especially coming from a culture that doesn't believe in them. But it's in the Book, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.
Last week we went back to the Bocaria (the city dump) for another outreach. This time instead of walking up onto the dump to talk with the people sorting the garbage we went around the village surrounding the dump where the roughly 1,000 dump-scavengers live. We went into one home where the husband was lying on a reed mat on the floor. Even through the blanket covering him you could tell his body was completely emaciated. His arms were narrower than my wrist, and his legs weren't much bigger. He was suffering from AIDS, and hadn't been able to eat in a long time. After we prayed for a while he gained new strength, sat up, and said his appetite had returned and he wanted to eat! That was great.
Another AIDS victim that absolutely wrenched our hearts was a little boy living at the Zimpeto center. His name is Thabo (pronounced TAH-boo), he was orphaned at age 3 and was given to some relatives who neglected and abused him horribly. He is about 9 years old now but he hasn't grown much since he was 3, and he is absolutely skin and bones. He has been at the Iris center since August, but he's been ill for so long that his health isn't recovering very quickly. He can't walk, and he stays in the center's clinic full-time. Last week he got really sick, had a high fever, and could barely breathe; the nurses thought he was going to die soon. Jon and another visitor prayed with him for hours and his fever broke and by the next day the sickness was completely gone! He was even able to leave the clinic for the staff worship time, where he got more prayer. If any of you think about it, keep him in your prayers as well, the little guy needs all he can get. (There's a picture of him on our Facebook album, you should have received a link to that earlier...).
Well, we need to bring this update to a close. Thank you all for your continued prayers, support, and encouragements--we are so blessed. Our current prayer requests are:
* That we can get better visas that will enable us to stay in Mozambique longer than 30 days at a time.
* That our health would be protected. We have had several random sicknesses, pains, reactions, and incidents that seem like attacks, so protection would be appreciated.
* That we could learn Portuguese faster, so far it has been a very slow process and we still can't communicate very much.
* That God would show us every day what He wants us to be doing. There are so many "good" things to do every day we're sometimes overwhelmed and really only want to operate in what the Father has for us specifically.
God bless!
~Jon and Carla Reinagel
The kids at the Iris base aren't the malnourished kids you see in the advertisements for adopt a child programs... Almost all of them looked like that at some point, but not any more. The meal portions are huge and many of the kids have developed a healthy stomach. A lot of the kids at Zimpeto where we were staying actually spoke English, which helped a lot. However, later this week we will be heading to Machava, where all the missionaries are Brazilian and no one speaks English. That should help us with learning Portuguese, which will be helpful for the rest of the trip!
The spiritual climate in Mozambique is full of religions and superstitions. There are witchdoctors all over the place, and people pay them to either curse others or protect themselves. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it definitely has power behind it. In the States, it's trusting in money instead of God that trips up many Christians - here, it's trusting in the witchdoctor's protection instead of God that is a stumbling block. Cutting off the yarn and button "protection" bands is almost as great a celebration as leading someone to Christ! That isn't the only form of spiritual bondage in Mozambique though...
The Zion Christian Church is a fairly large church here and in South Africa. Regardless of their name, they don't really believe in Jesus or the Bible. When children are born, they ask the spirits of dead people to come and guide the babies... We went to one village (where we actually got to take pictures) and there was a 2 year old boy who wouldn't stop yelling and running around. The mother said he was like that constantly, day and night, but had been fine before the father insisted on taking him to the Zionist ceremony. It was pretty eye-opening to see the effect of spirits on people, especially coming from a culture that doesn't believe in them. But it's in the Book, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.
Last week we went back to the Bocaria (the city dump) for another outreach. This time instead of walking up onto the dump to talk with the people sorting the garbage we went around the village surrounding the dump where the roughly 1,000 dump-scavengers live. We went into one home where the husband was lying on a reed mat on the floor. Even through the blanket covering him you could tell his body was completely emaciated. His arms were narrower than my wrist, and his legs weren't much bigger. He was suffering from AIDS, and hadn't been able to eat in a long time. After we prayed for a while he gained new strength, sat up, and said his appetite had returned and he wanted to eat! That was great.
Another AIDS victim that absolutely wrenched our hearts was a little boy living at the Zimpeto center. His name is Thabo (pronounced TAH-boo), he was orphaned at age 3 and was given to some relatives who neglected and abused him horribly. He is about 9 years old now but he hasn't grown much since he was 3, and he is absolutely skin and bones. He has been at the Iris center since August, but he's been ill for so long that his health isn't recovering very quickly. He can't walk, and he stays in the center's clinic full-time. Last week he got really sick, had a high fever, and could barely breathe; the nurses thought he was going to die soon. Jon and another visitor prayed with him for hours and his fever broke and by the next day the sickness was completely gone! He was even able to leave the clinic for the staff worship time, where he got more prayer. If any of you think about it, keep him in your prayers as well, the little guy needs all he can get. (There's a picture of him on our Facebook album, you should have received a link to that earlier...).
Well, we need to bring this update to a close. Thank you all for your continued prayers, support, and encouragements--we are so blessed. Our current prayer requests are:
* That we can get better visas that will enable us to stay in Mozambique longer than 30 days at a time.
* That our health would be protected. We have had several random sicknesses, pains, reactions, and incidents that seem like attacks, so protection would be appreciated.
* That we could learn Portuguese faster, so far it has been a very slow process and we still can't communicate very much.
* That God would show us every day what He wants us to be doing. There are so many "good" things to do every day we're sometimes overwhelmed and really only want to operate in what the Father has for us specifically.
God bless!
~Jon and Carla Reinagel
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
January 15th Mozambique Update
Hey Everyone!
Last week I talked about our outreaches - I´m going to focus on the country of Mozambique this time. It´s kind of strange that it took us this long to really get a feel for the country, but we have been living in a missionary compound most of the time surrounded by Christians. This last weekend, we had the privelage of going into one of the outlying villages and geting a taste of what real Mozambique life is like! The people themselves are incredibly friendly, but the living conditions seem to leave much to be desired. We stayed in a government-built project area, which meant everyone had at least a 1 room house to live in, but most Mozambicans aren´t that fortunate. Many of the people we have met only have one or two changes of clothes (they often get a new pair for Christmas), and most of Mozambique doesn´t have power or running water. The toilets are definitely an experience, but we´ll leave that up to the pictures when we get those up!
Until recently, Mozambique was involved in a terrible war. Though it is referred to as a civil war, RENAMO (one of the warring parties) was funded by other countries in an effort to destabilize Mozambique. They targeted much of the infrastructure of the country and the war itself left Mozambique in shambles. Mozambique has been at peace for a while now, but there are still remanents of the war like land mines and other explosives. Last spring, a munitions dump exploded, sending missles and other explosives hundreds of miles - one hit the mission base we´re staying at right now, but didn´t explode on impact (or there would have been no more base). 5 minutes away from our base, there are the remains of a hospital with several huge holes in it, the largest of which cuts through several stories. Land mines are also occassionally a problem, especially when floods happen and the water moves already marked land mine areas.
Speaking of floods, some are actually occurring right now in the northern part of the country. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated and many are in desparate need of food. We will most likely be helping with the flood cleanup, but we do not head up to the northern part of the country for another month. If you would like to help out directly with the food distribution or the cleanup efforts, the best way is probably through Iris´s website, irismin.com.
Well, I´ll save the spiritual condition of the country for later - Carla is going to try and post pictures on Facebook. For those of you without Facebook, um, we´ll work that out next time we get internet access! Please be praying for the Mozambicans in flood areas and the rescue and recovery efforts. Please also be praying for us and our health - malaria is a constant threat and already several of the missionaries have come down with it. I´m very sorry I cannot write back personally to each of you right now, but I hope you understand. God Bless!
- Jon and Carla
Last week I talked about our outreaches - I´m going to focus on the country of Mozambique this time. It´s kind of strange that it took us this long to really get a feel for the country, but we have been living in a missionary compound most of the time surrounded by Christians. This last weekend, we had the privelage of going into one of the outlying villages and geting a taste of what real Mozambique life is like! The people themselves are incredibly friendly, but the living conditions seem to leave much to be desired. We stayed in a government-built project area, which meant everyone had at least a 1 room house to live in, but most Mozambicans aren´t that fortunate. Many of the people we have met only have one or two changes of clothes (they often get a new pair for Christmas), and most of Mozambique doesn´t have power or running water. The toilets are definitely an experience, but we´ll leave that up to the pictures when we get those up!
Until recently, Mozambique was involved in a terrible war. Though it is referred to as a civil war, RENAMO (one of the warring parties) was funded by other countries in an effort to destabilize Mozambique. They targeted much of the infrastructure of the country and the war itself left Mozambique in shambles. Mozambique has been at peace for a while now, but there are still remanents of the war like land mines and other explosives. Last spring, a munitions dump exploded, sending missles and other explosives hundreds of miles - one hit the mission base we´re staying at right now, but didn´t explode on impact (or there would have been no more base). 5 minutes away from our base, there are the remains of a hospital with several huge holes in it, the largest of which cuts through several stories. Land mines are also occassionally a problem, especially when floods happen and the water moves already marked land mine areas.
Speaking of floods, some are actually occurring right now in the northern part of the country. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated and many are in desparate need of food. We will most likely be helping with the flood cleanup, but we do not head up to the northern part of the country for another month. If you would like to help out directly with the food distribution or the cleanup efforts, the best way is probably through Iris´s website, irismin.com.
Well, I´ll save the spiritual condition of the country for later - Carla is going to try and post pictures on Facebook. For those of you without Facebook, um, we´ll work that out next time we get internet access! Please be praying for the Mozambicans in flood areas and the rescue and recovery efforts. Please also be praying for us and our health - malaria is a constant threat and already several of the missionaries have come down with it. I´m very sorry I cannot write back personally to each of you right now, but I hope you understand. God Bless!
- Jon and Carla
Friday, January 11, 2008
January 10th Mozambique Update
Hey!
Things in Africa are so much different than in the US… Theology doesn't matter to the people we see – to the broken, the homeless, and the dying, they need more than just news about where they could go after they die. They need hope and life now. Preaching the good news to the poor has been great, but just like Jesus's ministry, the best part has been providing for their needs, showing them God's love, and see their lives completely turn around.
The base we're at now has 330 kids, about 20 long term missionaries and 12 short term missionaries at a time. The scope is amazing – most days, there are multiple outreaches into the community and every day hundreds are fed. I think the most amazing thing is to see the kids here and their heart for outreach – these were the children off the street that had almost no hope of surviving unless they got taken in; they came in bitter, self-centered, and malnourished (among other things) but after they were shown God's love through the Christians here, they have an incredible desire to go out and share that love with others. We go to the hospital and pray for the sick, have outreaches to the street kids who have no homes and beg for a living, reach out to the people in jail, and we have even gone to the village dump where people live trying to scavenge any trash they may be able to sell.
The hospital was the first place we went. It was overwhelming to say the least and I don't think any of us could have stood to be there if we didn't have the ability to do something about their situation. In America, when we pray for someone and they don't get better, we just go ahead and get the surgery or take pain relievers – if the Mozambicans don't get healed, they will usually die or be scarred for the rest of their life. We would walk into a room, tell everyone why we're here, and ask if anyone would let us pray for them. Usually, most people would accept. Not everyone was healed, but everyone was touched in an important way. The AIDS victims were the worst to see – almost all of them were stick-thin, and some of them couldn't talk anymore. They would cry out in pain almost constantly and none of them got healed this trip, but several had less pain. But there were much better stories as well. In one room with 3 women in it, every one of the patients got healed and walked out of the room – they were all in the lounge smiling when we left! 5 women ended up accepting Christ as their savior, and the atmosphere in that corner of the hospital had shifted from death and decay to one of joy and happiness. This happens almost every week, but the hospital is huge and we can only touch a couple people's lives at a time.
The gospel here is just amazing – the kids have really taught me a lot about why Christ came. In the States, I think we too often focus on death and life after death. In Mozambique, there is a stark contrast to the death and pain all around us, and the joy and life in the ones who know Christ. I don't think there is anywhere where we saw this more than in the Bocaria – the city dump. People without jobs would try to make a living by rummaging through the garbage and selling the metal back to companies and the food trash to pig or goat owners. The dump was enormous, and after walking in for 15 minutes, we had still only seen a corner of it. I'll send pictures later, but we're kind of having difficulty with our dial-up connection. We walked up the hill of trash in 3's and 4's and asked the people if we could pray for them, then told them about food we were handing out at the church at the bottom of the hill. Many of them were touched by the prayers, but no one we talked to last week went to the church to get food – they didn't want to leave their pile of trash for fear that someone would take it. I thought that was so symbolic of many of our lives – afraid to give up our trash and step out and take real food. But I think the most encouraging thing that happened occurred deep in the dump – we approached one guy covered in flies expecting to see the lifeless, hopeless stare that characterized most of the people in the dump, but instead we were greeted with eyes full of hope and joy. When we told him what we were there for, he told us his story – he used to live in the dump, then found Christ several years ago. With help from some Christians, Zito was able to live outside of the dump and have a real life, but then he felt called back to the dump in order to reach others. He now lives there to bring hope to others. When the first missionaries got here, the churches told them they were wasting their times with the dying and the homeless because those people would never make a difference in society. But Jesus reached out to the dregs of society, and it seems like he knew what he was doing – the formerly dying and homeless are now making incredible differences; the mission base's school that sought to educate the kids who had never been able to afford school is now the number 1 school in the country, and many Mozambicans have been called to other countries to share the same good news that changed their life around.
We were also able to go to the police station and witness to the people that were in the temporary jail there. People would be kept there for about a week at a time, so each week we share the gospel to another round of delinquents. Many of them needed the gospel, but in a way that surprised us – they couldn't stand living with themselves, and in jail for the first time, they had nothing to do to take their mind off that fact. We explained to them that that was because of the sin in their life and told them Jesus came to take away that guilt and give them a new life. One of the guys told us this was the happiest day of his life, and several others also gratefully accepted the message. Even more surprising, the guards came up to us, got down on their knees, and asked us to pray for them. Almost every one of the 15-20 stationed policemen came up and asked us to pray for them – the Mozambicans from the center had never seen anything like it!
Later, we hope to update you on some of the other happenings around the base. By sharing these things, we hope to show you just how powerful your prayers for us have been and how much difference your support has made in people's lives. We also hope to challenge you a bit and to let you know that the gospel is above all powerful and more than able to change people's lives (Rom 1:16, 1 Cor 4:20)! God bless, and we'll write back soon!
In Christ,
- Jon and Carla Reinagel
P.S. For those of you a little more connected to Iris: Pastor Surprise wasn't tortured then martyred - it was his cousin. Surprise is alive and well and has a base in South Africa.
Things in Africa are so much different than in the US… Theology doesn't matter to the people we see – to the broken, the homeless, and the dying, they need more than just news about where they could go after they die. They need hope and life now. Preaching the good news to the poor has been great, but just like Jesus's ministry, the best part has been providing for their needs, showing them God's love, and see their lives completely turn around.
The base we're at now has 330 kids, about 20 long term missionaries and 12 short term missionaries at a time. The scope is amazing – most days, there are multiple outreaches into the community and every day hundreds are fed. I think the most amazing thing is to see the kids here and their heart for outreach – these were the children off the street that had almost no hope of surviving unless they got taken in; they came in bitter, self-centered, and malnourished (among other things) but after they were shown God's love through the Christians here, they have an incredible desire to go out and share that love with others. We go to the hospital and pray for the sick, have outreaches to the street kids who have no homes and beg for a living, reach out to the people in jail, and we have even gone to the village dump where people live trying to scavenge any trash they may be able to sell.
The hospital was the first place we went. It was overwhelming to say the least and I don't think any of us could have stood to be there if we didn't have the ability to do something about their situation. In America, when we pray for someone and they don't get better, we just go ahead and get the surgery or take pain relievers – if the Mozambicans don't get healed, they will usually die or be scarred for the rest of their life. We would walk into a room, tell everyone why we're here, and ask if anyone would let us pray for them. Usually, most people would accept. Not everyone was healed, but everyone was touched in an important way. The AIDS victims were the worst to see – almost all of them were stick-thin, and some of them couldn't talk anymore. They would cry out in pain almost constantly and none of them got healed this trip, but several had less pain. But there were much better stories as well. In one room with 3 women in it, every one of the patients got healed and walked out of the room – they were all in the lounge smiling when we left! 5 women ended up accepting Christ as their savior, and the atmosphere in that corner of the hospital had shifted from death and decay to one of joy and happiness. This happens almost every week, but the hospital is huge and we can only touch a couple people's lives at a time.
The gospel here is just amazing – the kids have really taught me a lot about why Christ came. In the States, I think we too often focus on death and life after death. In Mozambique, there is a stark contrast to the death and pain all around us, and the joy and life in the ones who know Christ. I don't think there is anywhere where we saw this more than in the Bocaria – the city dump. People without jobs would try to make a living by rummaging through the garbage and selling the metal back to companies and the food trash to pig or goat owners. The dump was enormous, and after walking in for 15 minutes, we had still only seen a corner of it. I'll send pictures later, but we're kind of having difficulty with our dial-up connection. We walked up the hill of trash in 3's and 4's and asked the people if we could pray for them, then told them about food we were handing out at the church at the bottom of the hill. Many of them were touched by the prayers, but no one we talked to last week went to the church to get food – they didn't want to leave their pile of trash for fear that someone would take it. I thought that was so symbolic of many of our lives – afraid to give up our trash and step out and take real food. But I think the most encouraging thing that happened occurred deep in the dump – we approached one guy covered in flies expecting to see the lifeless, hopeless stare that characterized most of the people in the dump, but instead we were greeted with eyes full of hope and joy. When we told him what we were there for, he told us his story – he used to live in the dump, then found Christ several years ago. With help from some Christians, Zito was able to live outside of the dump and have a real life, but then he felt called back to the dump in order to reach others. He now lives there to bring hope to others. When the first missionaries got here, the churches told them they were wasting their times with the dying and the homeless because those people would never make a difference in society. But Jesus reached out to the dregs of society, and it seems like he knew what he was doing – the formerly dying and homeless are now making incredible differences; the mission base's school that sought to educate the kids who had never been able to afford school is now the number 1 school in the country, and many Mozambicans have been called to other countries to share the same good news that changed their life around.
We were also able to go to the police station and witness to the people that were in the temporary jail there. People would be kept there for about a week at a time, so each week we share the gospel to another round of delinquents. Many of them needed the gospel, but in a way that surprised us – they couldn't stand living with themselves, and in jail for the first time, they had nothing to do to take their mind off that fact. We explained to them that that was because of the sin in their life and told them Jesus came to take away that guilt and give them a new life. One of the guys told us this was the happiest day of his life, and several others also gratefully accepted the message. Even more surprising, the guards came up to us, got down on their knees, and asked us to pray for them. Almost every one of the 15-20 stationed policemen came up and asked us to pray for them – the Mozambicans from the center had never seen anything like it!
Later, we hope to update you on some of the other happenings around the base. By sharing these things, we hope to show you just how powerful your prayers for us have been and how much difference your support has made in people's lives. We also hope to challenge you a bit and to let you know that the gospel is above all powerful and more than able to change people's lives (Rom 1:16, 1 Cor 4:20)! God bless, and we'll write back soon!
In Christ,
- Jon and Carla Reinagel
P.S. For those of you a little more connected to Iris: Pastor Surprise wasn't tortured then martyred - it was his cousin. Surprise is alive and well and has a base in South Africa.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)